30 Days
by JuliLuvsEliGold
Summary: Jerome loves Mara, and wants her to know that before the end of the term.  How will he tell her?  Read to find out!  Jara songfic to "30 Days" by NeverShoutNever.  Rated T for no reason.  Bad summary, sorry.


**Hey! So, this is a Jara songfic (if you couldn't already tell) based off of "30 Days" by NeverShoutNever. I love House of Anubis and Jara – longtime reader, first time writer. I hope you like it! R&R!**

**Summary: Jerome loves Mara, and wants her to know that before the end of the term. How will he tell her? Read to find out! Bad summary, sorry.**

**Rating: T, cuz I feel like it.**

**Disclaimer: Yeah, I totally own House of Anubis, NeverShoutNever, and Jerome Clarke. And that's why I'm writing on Fanfiction. In other words, I'm being sarcastic.**

30 days of Christmas and all I know

Is I'm not quite ready to let go of this past year

I have so much to show

One more month

And all I need is a sign from you that you think of me

If you don't

Then please just say so

Cause all I do

Is think of you

(Chorus)

And it's wearing me out

It's wearing me down

This holiday is nothing but frowns for me

But I've got a gift

You see

I'm making a list

Hell I'll check it twice

Of all the things you've done in my life

Then I'll send it your way

So you see why I love you

Who would have thought that someone like me

Could of fall in love so easily.

I know that you know that I know what I want

I know I cant have it but give it a thought.

I know that it sounds crazy baby

but all I do is think of you.

(Chorus)

And it's wearing me out

It's wearing me down

This holiday is nothing but frowns for me

But I've got a gift

You see

I'm making a list

Hell I'll check it twice

Of all the things you've done in my life

Then I'll send it your way

So you see why I love everything you throw my way

I know it's hard to say

But it's a crying shame that I came all this way

With so much to say

But all that came out was "Happy Holiday"

A home cooked meal and a nice warm bed

Somebody to love

A place to lay my head

But I got 30 days and I'm gonna make 'em count

Cause I cant call it Christmas without someone to smile about

"Hey, dude! Heading out early?" Alfie called to me, while dancing with Amber and smiling like he was having the time of his life. I smirked – he was doing what looked like a cross between the sprinkler and a moonwalk. Ah, Alfie and his… _interesting_… dance moves. Meanwhile, Amber looked slightly horrified, yet, strangely, a little impressed. It was the end-of-term prom, and I'd had enough partying for one night.

Perhaps I should have been in a better mood, considering we had just fought off a poisonous bug-wielding madman and saved the world from domination by our teachers – who, it turned out, were actually evil, as I'd always suspected – but truth be told, that didn't matter to me. All that mattered was the girl over there, looking beautiful in the dim light of the dance floor, and the fact that she was standing next to Mick Campbell. _That meathead._

Yes, Mara Jaffray. It killed me that she would be dancing with him tonight, when she belonged at my side. I would do anything for her, but she failed to notice that, and consequently was currently going out with the head jock and heartthrob (_gag me_) of the school. And I knew it was all my fault – If I hadn't insulted her _boyfriend_ while I was asking her out, way back when, we might not be in this mess. But unfortunately, that didn't make it hurt any less. It was the end of the term (hence the name, _End-of-Term Prom_) and soon we'd all be heading home for winter break. Alfie would go home to his parents, no doubt brandishing some sort of self-manufactured "head of house" badge, Mara would be having a grand Christmas with her sports-loving mum and dad (I'd even heard rumors that Mick would be visiting her at home – _oh, joy_), and… Where would I be? Oh, that's right. Home with my mother and father, too busy ignoring my very existence for any sort of Christmas celebration whatsoever.

All right, so maybe I was a little bitter. I just wished I could have a good holiday at home for once, some sort of memory to take with me and remember when I felt lonely over the break. I knew exactly which one, too - but that would never happen. It wasn't like Mara was just going to forget about Mick all of a sudden and fall in love with me. _Forget it._

"Uh, Jerome?" I'd forgotten about Alfie.

"Sorry, Alf, I'm beat. Think I'll head back to Anubis house." I turned and walked out the door, stepping out into the cold December air. It was just starting to snow, a light dusting coloring the dark sky. _Perfect._ Another snowstorm, so I could catch frostbite and spend winter break in the hospital. _Better than being at home._

I turned back to my dilemma. I just had to make some sort of progress with Mara, I _had _to. I wouldn't be able to stand it, longing for her all Christmas break, knowing she was probably with Mick, and not thinking about me one bit. I'd tried to say something to her last night. I had a little speech all planned out about how I was sorry for being mean to Mick, and that I loved her, however she might feel about me. However, all that went out the window the second I looked into those big brown eyes of hers. I couldn't seem to say anything except, "Have a happy holiday." She smiled when I said it, but in no way did it satisfy my wishes. If only there was some way to let her know…

Suddenly, a lightbulb went off above my head. Well, not literally. Let's just say that I had a fantastic idea. I broke off in a sprint towards the house, hoping I didn't get snow in my shoes.

Once I got to the house, I dashed across the hall to my room. Grabbing a pen and some paper, I started to write. This was my last-ditch effort, my final attempt to make Mara see that I loved her a thousand times more than Mick. I struggled for a while, breaking several writing utensils in the process – who knew it was so hard to write one's feelings on a piece of paper without sounding like a total idiot? What I came up with was this:

_Dear Mara, _

_This isn't exactly easy to write, which isn't surprising since you know I've never been much of a writer anyhow. You might ask, why don't you just tell me this, Jerome? Why write it? Well, I haven't been able to form coherent sentences around you as of late, and you'll soon see why. I want you to know that I'm very sorry for calling Mick a meathead. I really hope I didn't offend you by saying that, but I regret that we haven't talked much since then, and I hope we can still be friends._

_Scratch that. I don't want to be just friends, Mara. I know that you and Mick are together now, and I don't have a chance, but I want you to know that I'm in love with you. And I know this probably sounds pathetic, but I needed to tell you before we all went home for winter break. I love everything about you: The way you push your hair back from your face, the look you get when you're frustrated, the sound of your laugh. The way you were the only person I've ever met who's ever bothered to, quote, 'scratch the surface', unquote, and get to know the real Jerome Clarke underneath. And you know that with my past (and present), that means more to me than you can imagine._

_This letter probably won't do any good; It's not like I'm expecting you to run out of Mick's arms and into mine after reading it. The way I see it, though, at least you'll know how I feel. _

_Love, _

_Jerome_

I read over the letter, making little changes here and there, and then ran up the stairs with it, being careful not to disturb Victor, who was working in his office. I went into Mara and Patricia's room, checking to make sure neither of them was home yet. Luckily, everyone seemed to still be at the dance. Placing the letter on Mara's bed, I made sure it was in a place where she would see it. Then I walked back downstairs to my room, got out my iPod, and prepared for a long wait.

At about eleven-thirty, my housemates started straggling in. First I heard Patricia and Joy, talking and laughing _way_ too loudly. I wondered in the back of my head where Joy was supposed to sleep – Nina had taken her bed. After those two came Alfie, Amber, Nina, and Fabian, acting like couples that had been together since way longer than the start of the night. Then finally… Mara and Mick. They were strangely quiet on their way through the hall – _weird. Do you think they could have—Don't get your hopes up, Jerome_. I could hear Mara going up the stairs behind Amber and Nina, while Mick walked down the hall to his room, probably knocking something over in the process.

I imagined Mara walking into her room, seeing the note. She'd pick it up, check the bottom of the letter to see who it was from before reading it. That was one of her quirks – she'd call it a 'bad habit', but I didn't necessarily see anything bad about it, not when it was Mara's. She'd then move her eyes to the top of the paper and start reading, her face changing to a look of… what? Horror? Astonishment? Happiness? _You wish_.

Alfie walked into our room, his face a look of total happiness. "Mate, you should have stayed until the end! Amber really likes me! See, there was this guy, and he wanted to dance with her, but— Anyway, it was awesome! Surprised you're not asleep yet, though. Or at least in your pajamas."

I looked down. I was still wearing my tuxedo. I'd sort of forgotten about it. "Oh, yeah. I was just—busy. You know, packing."

Alfie nodded. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door, and my heart leaped. Mara stepped inside, looking a little nervous. "Hi, Jerome, I… er… got your letter. Can I talk to you?"

_This can't be good_. "Yeah, sure, Mara." I gave Alfie a look.

He looked confused for a second, then his eyebrows went up and he said, "Oh! Yeah! I'll just go say goodnight to Amber!" He ran out of the room.

Mara took a deep breath. Not wanting her to feel upset, I said, "Don't worry about it. It's no big deal." I smiled, but it probably came out as a grimace.

"Jerome, I broke up with Mick."

"What? _Wh_y?" I was shocked. Why would she break up with him?

"Well… Part of it was that I realized I didn't really like him as much as I thought I did. I told him that, and he admitted that he'd been feeling the same. We realized we really didn't have much in common after all, and so we broke up. It was kind of a mutual thing."

She took a deep breath. "Another part of it was… I was kind of in love with someone else. I hadn't realized it until the dance, because I was looking for him, but I found out he'd gone back to the house, and… and I realized how badly I wanted him to be there."

I sighed. It sounded a lot like the person she was talking about was—_It's not you, Jerome. It's time to give up hope._ "That's great, Mara. Who's the lucky guy?"

She looked surprised. "It's you, you idiot!" She sounded sincere, but…

"Look, it's not that I don't appreciate the gesture, but I think I know when I'm being lied to—"

I was cut off by the most wonderful thing that had ever happened to me – Mara Jaffray had run over, put her arms around my neck, and pressed her lips to mine. My heart had taken wings and was flying. Fireworks went off around us. I curved my arms around her – one in her hair, one at the small of her back. My last thought before I descended into a see of pure bliss was, _Maybe hope isn't such a bad thing after all._

**And there you go… my first-ever fanfiction. It was horribly cheesy, I know, especially at the end. Oh, well. Idk if Jerome actually calls Alfie 'Alf', but I was too lazy to think of any other nicknames for him. Love it? Hate it? Want to claw your eyes out after reading it? Tell me in a review! **


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